Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 10:05:53 -0500
From: RAKNGLTF@aol.com
NATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN TASK FORCE
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Robert Bray, 415-552-6448; rfbngltf@aol.com
STUNNING VICTORY IN SOUTH DAKOTA:
FIRST PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE DEFEATED
San Francisco, CA-- March 1, 1995...In a victory that South Dakota gay and
lesbian activists are calling "miraculous" and "history-making," a bill that
would have banned same-sex marriages has been defeated in the state
legislature.
State Senate sponsors of House Bill 1184, the ban on same-sex marriages,
failed to secure enough votes to bring the measure up for a full floor vote.
Seventeen senators voted to bring the bill forward, 13 voted against, and
five did not vote. Sponsors of the bill needed at least 18 votes for a floor
vote.
This marks the defeat of the first attempt to ban gay marriage as a
pre-emptive strike against a pending Hawaii Supreme Court ruling on that
state's same-sex marriage issue. Sponsors of the South Dakota measure, which
would have also banned recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other
states, indicated their concern about the Hawaii case as justification for
the local measure.
The history of the South Dakota bill has been a month-long roller coaster
ride for fledgling local activists. Earlier in February, HB 1184, "An Act to
prohibit a marriage between persons of the same gender," sailed through the
state House, 54-13. At that time there was no local gay and lesbian
movement, no statewide gay organization, no identified lobbying allies and no
previous history of gay-related legislation coming to the South Dakota
legislature.
An emergency lobbying strategy was created to stall the bill in the Senate
after it passed out of the House. Just a few days before the final Senate
vote, pro-gay lobbyists managed to secure enough votes to send the bill back
to the Senate's Judiciary Committee, essentially tabling it. However,
sponsors of the measure turned enough votes around to "smoke" the bill out of
committee and return it to the Senate floor. Through days of touch-and-go
lobbying, behind the scenes button-holing, tense public testimony, media
activism and sheer luck, the bill was finally blocked from coming to the
floor for a full vote.
"Against all odds the gay, lesbian and bisexual community of South Dakota --
and its newfound allies -- managed not only to defeat the measure and triumph
in crisis, but in the process build the beginnings of a statewide gay
movement," said Robert Bray, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)
Fight the Right Project organizer.
In the course of the battle several heroes emerged. Barry Wick, the
director of the newly formed South Dakota Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Federation
(SDGLBF), testified at the Senate committee hearings, the first time public
testimony on a gay issue has ever occurred in South Dakota. Joining Wick was
Pat Kane of Sioux Falls Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). Ro
Ann Redlin of the South Dakota Advocacy Network for Women became the power
lobbyist behind the scenes, along with Jim Berman of Common Cause.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Negstad (R) voted against the measure through its
entire course. Senator Lars Herseth championed the opposition to the bill, as
did Senator Barb Everist (R), Judiciary Committee chairperson. Rep. Dr. Jack
Billion opposed the bill in the House and made a case for its defeat in the
Senate. South Dakotans Jacques Soukup and his life-partner, Kirk Thomas,
contributed $5,000 to the SDGLBF to set up faxes, phones and copiers, and
another $20,000 to NGLTF and the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund for
ongoing gay marriage organizing.
Activists said that one deciding factor in the bill's defeat may have been
lawmakers' concern of a tourism and business boycott of the state should the
bill pass. South Dakota's Mount Rushmore and Black Hills area draw tens of
thousands of tourists annually. Lobbyists were rush-faxed complete
background information on the Colorado boycott, which was launched following
that state's passage of Amendment 2 in 1992.
Robert Bray of NGLTF and Evan Wolfson, director of the Marriage Project of
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, provided media, organizing,
fundraising, lobbying, and computer activism assistance to South Dakota
activists. A nationwide NGLTF "activist alert" was broadcast over America
OnLine and the internet urging people to e-mail, phone and fax Governor Bill
Janklow and other key state officials. The NGLTF Fight the Right Project has
scheduled a movement building and leadership training tour of the state in
late spring once the community has recovered from this battle.
"This bill is dead. Now we can stop putting out fires and start building a
real movement," said a jubilant Barry Wick of SDGLBF. "This victory is
testimony to the perseverance of our community and the will of supportive
lawmakers who believe in the spirit of our state's motto, 'The Land of
Infinite Variety.'"
For more information and to assist the South Dakota gay and lesbian
community, contact Barry Wick, SDGLBF, 13121 S. Creekview Road, Rapid City,
SD., 57702-0245, phone and fax (605)343-5577, tomalhe@aol.com. Contact
Lambda Marriage Project's Evan Wolfson at (212)995-8585, WolfsonE@aol.com.
The NGLTF Fight the Right Project may be reached through Robert Bray at
(415)552-6448, rfbngltf@aol.com.
The NGLTF Fight the Right Project provides direct in-the-field movement
building and organizing assistance to rural and other activists around the
country. Organizers in the project have covered 150,000 miles in two years
training more than 5,000 activists in 25 states.
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